Car door



B. FULLER Jan. 12 ,1926.

CAR DOOR Filed Sept. 5, 1923 3 Shuts-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR. 8:0 7' F02 L :1?

A TTORNEYS.

B. FULLER Jan. 1-2 1926.

CAR DOOR Filed Sept. 5, 1923 E L mr T n B .5 sheets sheet 2 lillll 1 A TTORN E YS.

Patented Jan. 12, 1926.

BERT FULLER, OF NEWARK, CALIFORNIA.

CAR DOOR.

Application filed September 5, 1923. Serial No. 661,106.

To all whom it wmy 0071mm.

Be it known that I, BERT FULLER, a cit1- zen of the United States, and a resident of Newark, county of Alameda, State of California, have invented a new and useful Car Door, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to doors generally but particularly to car doors and has for its primary object the provision of a structure including a door opening and a sliding and laterally movable door co-acting with the structure to respectively cover and uncover said opening and including means extending around said opening and means extending around one face of the door whereby to establish storm proof contact between the door and the jamb of the opening when the door is closed, all in combination with a novel and effective mechanism to permit the aforesaid parts to properly function without fear or possibility of rup-.

turing or dismantling said parts upon operations to respectively open and close said door. c

Another object of the invention is to provide means to cause the door to move freely with respect to the door opening at the option of the person manipulating same and in such manner that will permit adjustments of the door to be made without material manual effort. a

Another object of the invention is to provide a door having means whereby same can be moved at a right angle to its opening so as to effect a tight contact between the door.

and its jamb when the former is closed and to provide a clearance between the jamb and the door when the latter is adjusted to a position to permit the door to slide across said opening.

A further object of the invention is to provide means which will afford such clear ance between the door and the side of the car as to eliminate undue friction between the parts when sliding or adjusting the door.

A further object of the invention is to provide means to permit th'door to function as aforesaid and which will serve to secure a locked condition of the door when closed.

My invention therefore comprises certain novel features of construction and arrange ment and combination of elements hereinafter set forth and pointed out in the claims annexed hereto.

In the accompanying drawings in which I have shown my invention in a concrete form, Figure l is a view in elevation of the door and its co-acting parts of a car structure, Figure 2 is a horizontal section therethrough taken on line 2-2 of Figure 1, Figure 3 is a vertical section through the lower track, a portion of the door and showing in dottec lines its adjusting mechanism within its housing, Figure l is section on lined-4 of Figure 3, Figure 5 is a front elevation thereof, Figure 6 is a vertical sec tion on line 6-6 of Figure 1, Figure? is a front elevation of the anti-friction device, Figure 8 is a section on line 8-8 of Fig ure 1. i

In carrying the invention into practice, use is made of a car structure of any well known type, the same having a door opening (10) adapted to co-act with my improved door (11) and jamb (12). j

The jamb (12) extends entirely around the opening (10) and same is provided with a horizontal laterally extending rib or means which describes a rectangle. Located above the door opening is a horizontal track (14) and below said opening is a similar track 15), the latter being substantially the same in construction as said track (14), and same is provided with a channel (16) and a vertical flange (17).

' The door (11)is provided with parallell arranged vertical shafts l8-18,- eacn mounted to turn in bearings (19) secured to the door. The upper ends of these shafts are mounted in hangers (20) mounted to slide longitudinally on the flange (17) of the track (14:). The lower ends of said shafts carry similar hangers (21) mounted to slide on the flange (17) of the track The hangers (21) are in the form of gear housings to accommodate the bevel gears (22) of said shafts and intermeshing bevel gears (28) of horizontal worm screws (24). As stated, the hangers (20) are similar to the hangers (21) shown in Figure 3, the latter are formed with flanges (25) which freely overhang the flange (17 of the track (15) and foot pieces (26) which underlie said track. In this manner the hangers are insured of free motion in a longitudinal direction on the tracks and same are held against casual separation therefrom. At

the same time this arrangement provides fulcrum points or mountings, whereby the door (11) can be moved at right angles to the opening The shafts are adapted to be turned manually and to effect this, I provide the shafts with metal hasps or levers (27) having eyes (28) to accommodate eyebolts (29) on the door (ll) when said hasps are turned to their full line positions shown in Figure 1. At this time. the eyebolts receive locking pins (2-50) which engage against the hasps to hold same against turning movement. This holds the shafts 1S-18 locked when the door is closed. It should be understood that the worms (2%) co-act with threads (31) in the hangers so that when the hasps (:27) are turned away from their full line positions in figure 1 the shafts 18 turn and rerolve the gears secured to them, and thereby the gears 23 which in turn are drawn innard toward the car by their threaded shanks working in the threaded li:'-.nge1's and the gears 22-3 being seated agaimt the vertical leg of the yoke or angle bearing plates 32 carry these plates with them and thus the door will he moved laterally with respect to the door openin This is true also when the hasps are turned back to their normal positions for as shown in Figures fll and 5, it is seen that the shafts 18-l8 are provided with angular bearing plates bent at right angles so as to lie in back of both gears with the shank of each gear rotatably extending through one leg of the angle thus forming a yoke rotatably holding both gears in working relation and lugs (33) which co-act with the side flanges Ill3l of the hangers (21). In this manner, the shafts are properly accommodated to slide horizontally or in a lateral direction with respect to the door opening (10). Itwill of course be understood that the upper ends of said shafts are. connected in like manner with the hangers and the upper worm screws 24: are the reverse hand of those atthe bottom of the door so that upon turning either shaft- 18 by means of its hasp that side of the door will approach or rccede from the car, depending on which way the hasp is moved. To protect the gears against dirt and dust a cover plate at?) is positioned over them within the hanger space and held a place by a screw a6 tightly screwed into gear 23 but revoluble through the cover plate.

A substance (35) such as asbestos is mounted on the inside surface of the door (11) and same is preferably arranged in the channel (3-6) of a metal frame scrured to the door at The channel restricted toward one side so as to hold the submince in confinement therein. This substance therefore extends entirely around one face of the door and same co-acts with said rib to cause a tight intersection between the door and the jamb when the former is closed as shown in Figure 23. This provides the joint of the door with an insulation or filler so as to produce a weatherproof or storn'iproof arrangen'umt when said door is closed. Vv'hen the door is to he opened, same may part or separate from said intersecting surfaces without dismantling or causing rupture or disturbance to said parts involved. It shall also be noted that the arrangement permits the door to part or move freely away from the door opening of the car at the option of the person manipulating same. \Vhile I have described that asbestos is neferred as a packing between the door and its jamb it shall be understood that rubber, felt or the like may be substituted therefor, just as long as a compensating action or quality may be established to permit the parts to function as aforesaid. l. prefer asbestos in view of its fireproof qualities.

In order that the door may be relieved of undue friction so that it may be moved without great nranual effort, 1 provide load sustaining brackets (39) secured to the loner end of the door (1.1) and provided with foot pieces (40) which extend into the channel (16) of the track (15), and same are provided with a suitable number of anti-friction bodies l-l) adapted to travel upon the lower wall of the channel and to compensate themselves to respective movements of the door when adjusting the latter.

Forward and rear stop plates and (43) respectively are mounted on one side of the car structure to limit movements of the door. The forward plates act to engage with the forward edge of the door to align the flexible or yieldable substance with the rib (1.3) when the door is in closed position and also permit lateral movement of the door so that said substance may be brought to seal against said rib. While I have said that the substance is carried by the door and the rib (13) by the jamb, this is merely intended as one practical embodiment of the invention and a reversal of this o 101' or arrangement of the parts can be resorted to if desired. It shall also be noted that the substance (35) traverses the edge of the rib (l3) and in so doing, the parts overlap or become nested together to make more effective the good qualities of the structure as a storm or weather and fireproof joinder between the door and its jamb.

W'hen it is desired to open the door, the hasps (97) are actuated as levers and the shafts l8l8 turned to clear the channel (36) from the rib (ill) of the jamb. This moves the door at right angles to its open ing. The handle (fl) on the door (ll) is then actuated to move the door in a longitudinal direction until same engages with the rear stop plates (43). The construction and arrangement of parts herein referred to are such that no undue force or exertion need be applied to move the door as the latter will not bind or scrape against the side of the car. This is made possible on account of the ample clearance allowed for the movement of the spiral worms (24). It has been found that the usual bulging out of the side of the car door posts due to their being out of line, will not affect the efficient working condition of the door as proper clea 'ance may be had and controlled by the pitch of the threads upon said spiral worms The door can be applied to what are known as box or house cars already built or cars undergoing repairs. Special designs of door posts are not required to effect in stallment of the door, and except, perhaps for the ambs herein referred to, car structures of well known construction may be quickly equipped with my invention. On account of the novel provision of the substance (85), the door is made absolutely weatherproof without need ,of such well known provisions as weather or roofing paper, wooden bat-tens, cleats, etc., heretofore employed in cars of this nature. The typical construction of my improved door eliminatesthe necessity of using pinch bars or other implements to open or close the door as has been the frequent practice of railway employs, and in view thereof the life of my door is increased quite considerably and preserved against undue abuse.

hat I claim as my invention is:

1. In a sliding and clamping door of the character described, means for clamping the door comprising screws arranged on the upper and lower edges respectively of the door for carrying the door to and from a door opening, and means for operating the screws in pairs comprising bevel gears secured respectively to one end of the screws, a pair of shafts revolvably supported across the door and having a bevel gear at each end meshing with the first named gears, the screws at opposite ends of the shafts being of reversed pitch.

2. A sliding clamping door of the character described comprising a structure having a vertically arranged door opening, a pair of horizontally disposed tracks extending along the structure respectively at the top and bottom of the opening, a sliding door adapted to fit over the opening and supported by anti-friction devices on one of the tracks and movable directly toward and away from the structure while supported 011 the tracks and means for so moving the door comprising a shaft revolvably supported on and extending across the door, a bevel gear secured at each end of the shaft, a bracket at each end of the shaft respectively confining the gears and slidably engaging the tracks, bevel gears rotatable within the bracket and meshing with the first gears and having threaded shanks extending at right angles to the shafts and also to the structure, said shanks threadedly engaging the bracket for operation toward and away from the structure upon being revolved, a yoke engaging each pair of meshed gears whereby they move together, and means for revolving the shaft for operation of the gears.

3. In a rectangular door having sliding and clamping movement relative to a door opening, an L-shaped metal bar extending around the four edges of the door, said'L having its long leg secured against the outside of the door and the end portion of its short leg extending parallel with the inner face of the door, the inner face of the door being provided with an undercut rabbet cooperating with the short leg of the L to form a locking channel and a body of packing disposed within said channel and locked against outward displacement by the walls thereof and adapted for sealing the door upon clamping the same against the opening and against a suitable edge thereon adapted to enter the chamber.

4. In a rectangular door having sliding and clamping movement relative to a door opening, an L shaped metal angle extending around the four edges of the door, said L having its long leg secured against the outside of the door and its short leg extending toward the opening and forming the ex treme edge of the door, and the inner edge of the door being removed along all four edges of the door, and an N shaped metal section secured at one parallel leg to the inside of the door adjacent the cut out edges and with its angular arm and ot ier parallel leg cooperating with the short leg of the L to form a packing channel for sealing the door upon clamping the same against the opening and against a suitable edge thereon adapted to enter the chamber.

BERT FULLER. 

